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Does that sound like a line from a song?  You must be one of The Fantastics. Here's a few things to spark your ROM; do your children know how to hand crank an automobile? Do you remember the smell while running a mimeograph copier? Anyone here still us a Dictaphone?

Speaking of automobiles-does yours have bumpers? When I was a kid my Mother would do her grocery shopping, then go to the New West Florida Ice Co. ice house and drive home with a 20 pound block sitting on the front bumper supports.

Another use for the front bumper was to hang a leather water bag on so you'd have cool drinking water on long trips!

Wing windows needed to bring in fresh cool (?) air; did you ever drive with your doors slightly open to suck out the mosquitoes?

"Saucered and blowed"?  I haven't heard that for many years. Mother made percolated coffee in the mornings that was so hot that Daddy would pour some into the saucer, blow on it and sip it from the saucer. All this while reading the morning Tampa Tribune, and never spilled a drop.

Personally, I don't remember using a telephone with no dial. Every call was through a switchboard operator. I do remember we were on a four-party line. Not much privacy then. Life was/is good.

I recently realized that life is fast and getting faster all the time and I don't think it's just a result of my status, age-wise.

Back twenty or more years ago, about 4:00 p.m. every business day we could hear the helicopter approaching the local area banks to pluck bags off the roof poles, with long hooks. The bags were filled with the day's transactions of checks to be taken to a central processing location to be debited to your account. That would give you a little "float time". No More!!!

Several years ago I bought something at Wal-Mart and paid for it by check. The cashier scanned my check and handed it back to me. I asked her if she didn't need to keep the check. She told me that she scanned the check and it's already been taken out of our account. Yikes!!!

Probably 10 years ago I received our monthly statement from our business gas credit card account showing that our previous month balance had not been credited. When I called the company in California I was told they'd never received our check. Pete hears my conversation and speculated that our check might be laying on an airport runway in Kenner, Louisiana. The day after I had mailed the payment, a plane had crashed there.  Fortunately, they didn't charge us any late fee. All that is now eliminated with online bill- paying which can be both a blessing and a curse, but it sure is convenient. Also, as soon as you charge something on a credit card it instantly appears on your account with the speed of lightning (or computers).

We've recently been told that deposit slips will be a thing of the past.

The coming generations will look upon us as "living in the dark ags". Like I said: Life is Fast, but Life is Good.

Back in 1965 Diane and I took a vacation trip to Mexico. Of course, we made Mexico City our main stop, with side trips to Taxco, Cuernavaca and Acapulco.

When we ventured out into the hinterland I enjoyed trying to impress the locals with my Puerto Rico Spanish. While out on a volcano-hunting trip our tour guide-driven car radiator overheated which required a stop and wait on the outskirts of Puebla.

Having about an hour or so to wait, we hit the side walk. While browsing through a small open-front general merchandise store, Diane asked me to ask the clerk if they had any tissues.

I wracked my brain and all I could think of was paper handkerchief. So I asked the young clerk, "Tiene usted un paquete de pannelas de papel?"  (Do you have any paper handkerchiefs?)  She repeated my words as though she was trying to decipher my query, then repeated it again to her nearby co-worker who was equally puzzled. Finally the co-worker exclaimed, "KLEENEX?"    La vida es Buena.